258 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



sprout is scarcely discernible from grass 

 at the first; it grows slowly too, and re- 

 quires a great amount of hand weeding 

 where the soil is full of weed seeds, and 

 where the weeds spring up rapidly after 

 spring plowing. This hand weeding is 

 very difficult work. If it is done by adults, 

 they must be for hours In a stooping pos- 

 ture or walk on their knees along the 

 rows. 



Onions grow well on sandy soils and on 

 volcanic ash soils. Land that has been 

 recently cleared of sagebrush is good for 

 onions, because there the onions grow to 

 a large size, and the first year, especially 

 after the sagebrush has been grubbed, 

 there are no weeds of any consequence to 

 Interfere with cultivation; the labor cost 

 is low. Only the ordinary tools need to 

 be used and the returns are thus relatively 

 large. 



rantaloupos 



Cantaloupes have been successfully 

 grown between the trees and are adapt- 

 able to many soils and climates, are of 

 fine quality, are easily grown, and if 

 planted soon enough to find an early mar- 

 ket, bring very profitable returns. 



Watermelons 



Watermelons are sometimes grown, but 

 the difficulty is generally that the trees 

 require more water than is required for 

 the watermelon. In fact, after the water- 

 melon is formed and as large as a man's 

 fist, it requires very little water, and is 

 of better quality without it, while the 

 trees need water throughout the season. 

 Many of the failures to i)roduce good 

 watermelons on damp soils or irrigated 

 lands grow out of the fact that the vines 

 get too much water. Some persons sup- 

 pose that because the watermelon is most- 

 ly composed of water and because of the 

 name, it should have a great amount of 

 water. This is a mistake, and for the 

 reason that the watermelon rind is tough 

 and solid, allowing very little evapora- 

 tion, nearly all the water pumped by the 

 root system and carried into the melon 

 is retained as if it were pumped into a 

 jug. It is not that the melon receives 

 more water than the leaves that causes it 

 to be so juicy in the autumn and the 

 leaves to be dry, but it is because the 

 leaves have given up their water by the 

 process of evaporation and the melon has 

 not. It is therefore necessary to exercise 



Fig. 3. 



Mr. Eai-ly's \V.TUMmeli]n I'atch. Cleared of sage brush in February, plowed 

 in March, planted in May, crop in August, 



